As the Obama/NATO bombing continues in Libya, here is a writer who says that Gaddafi had welcomed Palestinians (most Arab countries do not resettle Palestinian refugees) to the country, many have been there for decades, and now, desperate to escape, they have no place to go.
The article is a bit confusing but some things I gathered from it: Palestinians have died in the bombing, the UN agencies are confused over who has authority for helping Palestinians since they have their own UN agency (UNRWA), but its jurisdiction is geographically limited. UNHCR then has helped some, but its outside their authority. The Palestinian Authority has sought permission from Egypt for some to be transported across Egypt to Gaza, but that doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Egypt has refused them entry into Egypt. Israel offered to take 300. Some may be be supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood rebels, others deny it.
The trapped Palestinians sent out this appeal, so far no response:
“We the Palestinians living in Libya, some for more than 35 years have come from Lebanon to flee (civil) war and resided among our brothers in Libya where we got married and worked. However, after the 17 February insurrection and the worsening security situation, we are trying to leave the country via its ports but were not allowed because of inadequate travel documents. We are now stranded and sell our belongings to eat; we do not have work or shelter and do not know what to do or where to go.”
Read the whole article. It’s the first I’ve seen about Palestinians trapped in Libya.
An afterthought! I just remembered that in 2009 when NO ARAB COUNTRY WOULD TAKE ITS FELLOW PALESTINIAN ARABS trapped in Iraq, we started to bring them to the US, here.